Journal Entry 27: Walking the Plank

This trip to Ghana means more to me than simply a study abroad experience. It's also an opportunity for personal growth. One part of personal growth is overcoming your fears, which I chose to do on this day.  I dreaded this day before I even arrived in Ghana.  I’m afraid of heights. No—I’m terrified of heights. In the brochure, I had seen pictures of people walking along this long bridge made of rope, amongst high trees, and created my own terrifying mental picture. I imagined just how it would be. I would hold someone’s hand as they tried to calm me down and stop my crying, and then when it was all done I would cry even harder and recover from my anxiety attack.

Ghana taught me a lot about myself on this day. The time had come--we headed to Kakum National Park. We were hiking in the rainforest, climbing up, and up, and up. We finally reached the little enclosure where we waited to face our fate, as only seven people are allowed on the canopy at once. I realized that based on how the canopy was built you can’t have two people standing side by side. The only one that could hold my hands was the rope.  The director of my program went close behind me, sending me words of encouragement. Midway, he asked me to turn around to take a picture. I slowly turned around and gave an “I’m scared but I’m doing this!” expression. At first, all I could see was trees under me, so it wasn’t that bad. However, as I started getting further onto the bridge, I could see more open space beneath me, and I began to feel my legs and arms quivering, nearly about to give in. I shouted back to my director. “Kwasi—I’m getting scared now. I’m getting REALLY scared”. “You can do it--keep going!” he shouted from behind me. I was so panicked that I could barely hear all of the shouts from the other members of my exchange program saying “Yea, Zakiyyah! You can do it! Come on girl!” I tried to drown out the loud noise of fear and tune into their voices. After a while, their voices were not enough, so I used my own. I kept singing, and singing, and singing, and singing, “Lalala—ooohh” “Lalalala--ooh”. Considering my voice was shaking like crazy, it wasn’t the prettiest sound I’ve ever made, but it was certainly the most soothing for me at the time. Before I knew it, I was done, and my peers were clapping! Another lesson learned in Ghana: Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the presence of fear with the will to go on.  After everything was finished, people went to collect their pictures, and make t-shirts that said “I survived the canopy walkway”. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough material to make me a t-shirt, but you can bet I’ll be getting one in the U.S. It isn’t everyday you have an experience like this. I did it, and boy am I glad that I did!